Gotham Season 3 Episode 18 Heroes Rise: Light the Wick Review

If you would like to read my review of the last episode, click here.

Synopsis: Gordon tracks down the weapon the Court of Owls intend to use for the destruction of Gotham; Kathryn and Temple Shaman tell Bruce about their next move; Ivy offers Selina help. (IMDB)

Writers: Tze Chun

Director: Mark Tonderai

Rating: TV-14

Running Time: 42mins

The episode starts off with our first glimpse of Barnes in a very long time as he is being transferred out of Arkham but someone else has other plans as they take him instead. It was indeed the Court and Kathryn (not Catherine as I have stated) who were interested in Barnes, more specifically his blood (that has the Tetch virus) which is probably one of the biggest non-surprises of the series and guess who’s back? Strange is back to assist them, against his will. The last time we saw Strange, he was taken by Fish Mooney so it is nice to see that he was saved, so to speak, by the Court which hopefully means that it will be the last we see of Fish Mooney.

Lee is still obsessed with exposing Gordon for the “bad” person he is but no one wants to tell her what’s going on. She has been an annoying character this season and things like this definitely don’t help. Ivy was looking for Selina and learned what had happened to her. She stayed with Selina in her hospital room, using her plants to try and heal her, until she woke up from her coma and when she did, she vowed to kill CB.

The Court is all in on their big plan but Gordon still doesn’t know anything. Gordon took Kathryn’s fingerprints from her mask and found where she lived. As mentioned, the non-surprise was that the Court’s weapon was the Tetch virus that Strange was able to aerosolize. Gordon and Bullock found Strange and he may be on their side, offering them help but he was still his slimy self.

The shipment from a few episodes ago was the delivery system for the virus. In the last episode, Ed was interested in the Court and was now missing so Penguin followed suit, hoping that he could find Ed through the Court. Gordon used this as an opportunity to disrupt a test of the delivery system. Penguin got the attention of the Court and was taken to a cage and next to him was Ed, in another cage.

The Shaman continued to train Bruce, wanting to get over his range and pain from the night his parents died as it was becoming a hindrance on his progress. Once he is over these, than no one can stop him. Gotham needed a protector and Bruce needed a purpose. He eventually let them go and he was all in and got better because of it. Bruce wanted to leave but the Shaman’s offer to take his pain away was too tempting to pass up. The Shaman then called Kathryn to tell her that he and Bruce would be leaving and asked if they would be ready for them and it should be.

The episode ended with an underwhelming confrontation between Gordon and Lee. He admitted to killing Mario because he was going to kill Lee but she still didn’t believe it. She was ready to leave again but Gordon warned her that it wouldn’t help. She learned how he could move on and she walked out the door. Kathryn noticed something missing from her drawer (a keycard Gordon stole when he was in her house) and set Barnes after Gordon. He was definitely willing to oblige.

Overall, this was another good episode with compelling subplots with Gordon and Bruce which appear to be on a collision course. It was nice to see Strange back and Fish Mooney gone but Lee meandering around was not as nice to see. Gotham is actually getting good now so I hope that it doesn’t disappoint going down the stretch.

Score: 8/10

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.